Improvement in railway-alarms for trucks



' freight or passenger car,

rsANcrsn. wsrfrnsins, or OXFORD, PENNSYLVANIA..

hiiPiflOxVvlEN IN RAILWAY-ALARMS FOR TRUCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 115,003, dated May 16, 1871.

To au whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS E. WHITE- SIDE, of Oxford, Chester county, State of Peniisylvania, have invented an Improved Railway-Alarrn Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full', clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formingpart of this specification, in which-f- Figure l is a londitudinal section of a railway-car, showing theapplication of my alarm apparatus; and Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the same. l

Similar letters of reference in the accompanying drawings denote corresponding parts.

invention has for its object to provide means for notifying the engineer of a trainol' cars when any car is ed' the track, or when a train becomes broken by the separation of theears ig and to this end it consists iu a frame` work ot' iron rods, provided with stops susi pended from the car-trucks, so that the stops shall oe in line with the anges of the Wheels, slightly above the rail, said framework being connected by suitable meanswith an alarm` upon the locomotive, whereby, if acar runs otl' the track, or the rails become broken, the

stops shall catch in" or against the ties of the road, and so pull the whole system of rods toward the' .tear of the train and sound the alarm.

The rods of one car are connected to those of another, and so on Vthroughout the' entire length of the train by icouplings. which are adapted for operation from the platforms of the cars.

In the drawings, A is the Aplatform of va.

B, in the usual manner.'

C is a framework of iron rods lof suitable size, consisting of the central' rod d and the parallel side rods e e, unitedrto the former, as. shown in Fig. 2.

'lhe area of the frame-work thus produced corresponds to the area of the tr'uck between the wheels, and ,is suspended from saidlttuck beneath the axles by means of the short rods f, which lit into the loops g, formed centrally upon the parallel rods e c, as shown, the con# nection being' such that the loops shall slidel through the eyes of the rodsf when the frame-v work is moved.

mounted upon trucks The central-rod d is jointed between the truck of each car, so that the frame Work shall at all times conform to the lateral motion olf the trucks. The frame-work is steadied beneath thecar by means of the pendent arms p at the ends of each car.

Inpassenge'r-cars the brakes are usually applied to the outside ofthe wheels, as shown upon the left of Fig. 1, and between the wheels in freight-cars, as shown upon. the right of Fig. 1.

In the former case I arrange a series of stops or pendants, o upon the center of the framework-say at the loops g-which extend downward toward the rails, in line with theflange ofthe wheels. In the latter case I place the'sto-p at the corners of I the frame, outside the wheels, as shownupon the right of Fig. 1.,

The frame-work of one car is connected to that of another by a coupling composed'of the socket H, slotted upon the top to receive the end of a lever, I, whichis pivoted to said socket, as-shown at j.

The lever vforms a draw-hante receive and hold the link K. Thedraw-b'ar is held Within Athe socket by a springfm, placed under Ithe outer arm of the lever,'which arm carries also arod, mexteuding upward through the platform of the car. The ro'd n serves to depress.

the free end of the. lever when it; becomes necessary touncouple the cars.

` If'desired, the rods may be swiveled to the levers and provided with lateral pins, so that .when the levers are depressed the rods may 'be turned to bring the pins under the platform of thecars, and thus hold the'drawbars raised for the removal or insertion of the' coupling-link. The frame-workof the first ear is connected to an alarm upon the engine by any suitable means.

The operation is as follows: If a car from -any cause gets oli' the track while the train is in motion, the wheels,'of course, drop down beside the rails, and thus bring the stops o ot' the frame-work in contact with the ties.

The coutact'of the stops with the ties holds the frame-work station ary, while the ears move ahead, which movement causes the rod d of the frame-work to pull back and sound the alarm upon the locomotive, as will be readily understood.

Having thus described my inventlon,`what 2 Iclaim as new therein, and desire to secure 2.- The sliding frame-work C O, with'suitby Letters Patent, is-- able connections, in combination' with a rail- 1. A railway-alarm apparatus, consisting of road-car, substantially as described, forV the sliding stops suspended from the trucks of purpose specified.' the cars, and adapted for connection to the belllcord or other alarm upon the locomotive, FRANCIS E. WHITESIDE. so that Whena carl gets off the track the stops shall `come in contact with the ties of the road f Witnesses: and beheld stationary, While the car moves E. A. ELLSWORTH, f forward to sound the alarm, substantially as A. RAWLINGs. herein described. 

